One of the women accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault just released a video of their first meeting — taken hours before the Hollywood mogul allegedly raped her in a hotel room.
Vice reports that Melissa Thompson, 28, recorded the September 2011 meeting as part of her demonstration of a new video platform her tech startup was pitching to the Weinstein Company. Originally, Thompson was scheduled to meet with the whole marketing team, but Weinstein showed up alone. He told the other staff not to interrupt them, and then locked the door.
The video shows him rejecting Thompson’s offer of a handshake. He instead hugs her and rubs her back. He asks, “Am I allowed to flirt with you?” to which Thompson responds, “Umm, we’ll see, a little bit.” According to Vice, Weinstein quickly agrees to use Thompson’s company’s technology, and then he tells her, “You’re hot.” At one point, he directly harasses her, saying, “Let me having a little part of you. Can you give it to me?”
In an interview with Sky News, Thompson says he then put his hand up her dress. In the video, you can only see from the waist up, but you can see that Thompson looks visibly uncomfortable and says, “That’s a little high. That’s a little high.”
According to Thompson, she and Weinstein agreed to meet at the Tribeca Grand hotel a couple of hours later. That is where she accuses him of raping her.
Dozens of women have accused the Hollywood producer of rape, sexual assault, and harassment. He has pleaded not guilty to six charges against him in New York. Thompson is part of a class action lawsuit against Weinstein.
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